SCCC, a two-year school that is part of the State University of New York system, joins at least three other Capital Region colleges that will become smoke-free campuses starting in the fall of 2013. Hudson Valley Community College, Albany Law School and Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences also will implement a tobacco ban.

The ban takes effect in September and includes cigarettes, cigars, pipes, chewing tobacco and electronic cigarettes. About a half dozen other Capital Region colleges already have no-tobacco policies in place.

In 2012, the SUNY Board of Trustees passed a resolution calling on all 64 SUNY campuses to become tobacco-free by January 2014. Individual SUNY schools can adopt a smoke-free policy, but SUNY’s systemwide ban requires approval by the state legislature. The measure has not been adopted yet.